Walsall's Cower, Hounds! are going full VR - unsigned column

They're debut album, ...Or Die - a wondrous, thumping guitar romp filled with elements of grunge, sludge, garage rock and stoner rock - came out back in 2014. And they're itching for more.

Guitarist and vocalist Paul Reynolds tells the Star they can no longer keep harking back to the praise heaped on that release, and need to get themselves back in the public consciousness.

"We had really good feedback on the album and at the time we were really well received, but it's been a long time and now we need to get something new out there," he tells us.

"We've had three singles and one album. We've got some new material now, and like I say it's time we got it out there."

Reynolds is joined by Andy 'Fordy' Ford on bass, with Rob Stimpson banging the drums behind the pair. And between them they make quite the racket. Think Red Fang having a bar brawl with Torche while Cannock rockers Wolf Jaw - a former Unsigned column act themselves with a brand new record of their own out - commentating on the action.

"We play what we want," Reynolds declares. "There's not a great game plan when it should be about what people want to hear - but we live in hope they can be the same thing. All that we listen to, from the greats to new weird stuff, all impacts on what we want our music to feel like.

"But ultimately it is our own, the music being our own is very important to us."

It's an important mantra to have. Why be like anyone else when you can be like Cower, Hounds!? And it comes into greater significance with the origin story of how the band were formed, growing out of the ashes of a previous project in the hopes of getting it spot on this time. If not in terms of commercial success then at least with their own satisfaction over their work.

"Me and Fordy played together in a band previously, and when it broke down around 2010 we decided we didn't have anything better to do and quickly grabbed hold of Rob, who himself had recently become available from LunarMile [the band of Toni-Marie Iommi, daughter of Sabbath legend Tony Iommi, and Alex Hill, son of Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill]. He sat in and got us up and running again.

"He's proper nifty on the drums and we knew he was exactly what we needed to get us moving on. Luckily, he agreed - and here we are."

What stands Cower, Hounds! out from the crowd is how they release material. A simple single and lyric video just doesn't cut the mustard with them. Not when you can create a video game.

In 2017, they dropped single Soap Bleach Dispenser as a reminder to fans what they were capable of. And it came with a game - also called Cower, Hounds! - which featured "endless levels of side scrolling forest, amazing touch controls, real digitised sound effects", and an "exclusive soundtrack from world-famous supergroup Cower, Hounds!".

Slightly tongue-in-cheek? Certainly. But a whole lot of fun.

"It's about getting your music out in any way you can, thinking about things in a different way, you know?" explains Reynolds, adding it wasn't their only effort. "Rob is a bit of genius and put his skills to the test in the form of two games and a metronome which are getting really good levels of downloads.

"If that's getting us in front of people, well then it's worth doing."

It didn't escape the attention of international giants either. Apple came calling and warned them about potential copyright infringements - even threatening them with blocking the game from their systems.

"We threatened them with legal action and they backed down, but now we're not allowed within 100ft of an Apple," says Reynolds. "Only kidding, it got resolved through a little explaining and begging."

And they're currently at it again - only even bigger.

"We are working on a fully 3D virtual reality immersive Cower, Hounds! experience where you can live as one of us for a whole day and really get a feel for what it's like as a member of the band," Reynolds adds. "We are expecting a few lawsuits again."

On-stage, they have kept up their gigging commitments over the years, and have just had a big audition for the increasingly popular Glastonbudget Festival at Turnpost Farm in Wymeswold, Leicestershire. It features a lively selection of tribute and up-and-coming acts from across the country. They are awaiting hopefully good news.

"We rehearse regularly at our lock-up in Walsall so we just move the sessions away from writing into more of a gig-ready state," Reynolds said of their preparations. Hopefully, it was a successful afternoon and they'll be able to reach out to a more national audience again when the weekend kicks in from May 22 to 24, 2020.

And before then, the boys have a show a little closer to home.

On February 15, They are joining the Rock The Foundry Promotions line-up for their latest event at the Black Country Music Awards-winning venue Ye Old Foundry on King Street in Dudley. Doors are at 8pm and entry is free. They will open the night ahead of Parson City, The Red Widows and headliners Gévaudan.

So whether it is watching them strut their stuff on stage or 'living' as them for a day, 2020 could be an interesting year for those who love the Cower, Hounds! brand.

For more on Cower, Hounds! and any upcoming shows follow them on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, all @cowerhounds. You can listen to and see some of their wacky creations by tuning into their YouTube, Soundcloud or Spotify pages, or downloading their material from iTunes. To play any of the Cower, Hounds! games, get them on the Apple Store or Android Google Play store.